Original cast, new dino’s and a story that sees man and dinosaurs live in, well, not so harmony.

Jurassic World Dominion picks up where ‘Fallen Kingdom’ left off and dinosaurs from the failed park attraction have made their way to the mainland and across the globe.

The balance between humans and dinosaurs being at the top of the food chain is a delicate one and of course illegal poaching and selling of these beasts is a pandemic in itself.

Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), the once high profile Executive of Jurassic World is now working to free dinosaurs from poachers and protecting the rights of the creatures to live free and protected.

She is in a relationship with Raptor trainer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and with them they have the now teenage Isabella Sermon (Maisie Lockwood) living with them as their ‘daughter’.

Isabella was and is the only known cloned human being.

This means that she has a price on her head from researchers that want to find out more about her existence and how the cloning was done.

Isabella, being a teen, is rebellious and doesn’t like being kept hidden away – and as you guessed it, this leads in to trouble for all three.

Old relationships reignite when Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Alan Grant (Sam Neill) meet.

Alan is still digging up dinosaur fossils, but more as a tourist attraction as interest and investment waned once real dino’s came in to the world.

A giant pharmac-like research facility called Biosin Genetics is where we reconnect with Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). He is employed to give lectures on to the bright and aspiring students that aim to have careers at Biosin.

Of course, Biosin, headed by a Steve Jobs resembling character, Dr. Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott) who has nefarious goals of global food control.

Creating ravenous, suoer-sized locusts to destroy crops that don’t use Biosin Genetics field sprays, thus making crop growers to be forced to use Biosin’s product or create a world-wide famine.

Isabella gets kidnapped, Owen and Claire get assistance from a mercenary / smuggler Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise) while Ellie and Grant head to Biosin to reconnect with Ian to find out the source of the mega locusts.

All differing narrative paths eventually lead to Biosin Genetics and the whole group eventually meet up and fight a megalomaniac CEO and of course dinosaurs.

Jurassic Park Dominion tends to borrow a few iconic moments from the original trilogy while offering up a wealth of new larger than life dinosaurs and it was so great to see old favourites.

Carefully curated, to keep it mostly family friendly, Jurassic World Dominion is purported to be the final film in the ‘Jurassic’ franchise.

See the film if you want to be blown away by giant dino’s on a massively big screen, but if you’re wanting to see Jurassic World Dominion to be submersed in the story, the lore and everything that has made this franchise so epic, wait for the stream or Bluray.

The post Jurassic World Dominion (Universal – 2022) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

When a film titan and toy titan join forces in the video game space, you get one mega game.

LEGO Jurassic World originally released in 2015 on all consoles and PC. Now, it’s on Nintendo Switch.

Expect to be taken on a dino fueled overdose as the game plays out through the original trilogy of the Steven Spielberg films, brick by brick.

Assuming that you have seen at least one of the Jurassic Park movies, each chapter is memorable as the team at TT Games have faithfully recreated the more signature film scenes in a digital LEGO format with added humour.

You will replay the adventures on Isla Nublar where Dr. Hammond first introduced world to the genetically modified dinosaurs. From there the game will play out as the movies did, to a point, right through to the last film and the games’ namesake – Jurassic World.

Asides from dinosaur hunting and evading and in game objectives you are also able to free-roam. Doing this sees you pick up more LEGO coins from breakables. Nearly everything in this game, as with most LEGO video games, has an endless stream of stuff you can destroy. But, it’s not all destruction either, many segments in the game require you to be a master LEGO builder and create what is needed to get through a Level.

Coins are used to buy in-game additional vehicles, characters and more. Characters can be changed on the fly which will need to occur frequently as each one has their own special skill sets, from dinosaur tracking through to technical smarts, hunting and more.

Being that there is an entire saga of film-esque Levels and environments to work through, the longevity and even replayability of this one is super high.

While you are able to play the differing chapters as you wish it is my recommendation to play in chronological order.

Being ported over to Switch in it’s entirety has not seen any noticeable compromises whatsoever, even in docked mode on a large screen. It’s the exact same title as we experienced four years ago and again is a testament to the might of the midget portable from Nintendo.

LEGO Jurassic World is a must have for all Switch gamers.

The post LEGO Jurassic World (Switch) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Players of the dinosaur survival action-adventure game ARK: Survival Evolved can return to Earth today as the game’s third expansion pack Extinction is available now on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

ARK: Extinction contains a new map and story line to explore, dozens of new creatures to tame, and challenges even for veteran ARK Survivors who have conquered all previous obstacles – can you defeat the gigantic roaming Titans which dominate the Element-infested, ravaged planet, and complete the ARK cycle to save Earth’s future?

Visit the ruined world that’s rampant with Element-corrupted creatures! At the heart of Extinction is a towering but decaying metropolis, protected by a force of robotic guards known as the Scouts and Enforcers. Discover and explore long abandoned micro-biospheres which served as the early prototypes for the ARKs of today. Scour the land for Orbital Supply Drops, tame exotic creatures, and build a Mek powerful enough to defeat the colossal, tameable Titans dominating the landscape.

Extinction is free to ARK season pass owners and $19.99 USD as a standalone add-on for Xbox One, PS4, and PC / Steam. Haven’t yet ridden a dinosaur?

ARKbase game is on sale this week on all platforms.

The post Survivors Return Now to Earth and Finish Your Conquest appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, is the second film in the new Jurassic World trilogy. A modern day revisit to a world originally conceived by the great Steven Spielberg in 1995’s Jurassic Park.

In this alternate 2018, Dinosaurs again walk the earth thanks to genetic manipulation and scientific cloning methods. However, following the events the previous film (Jurassic World), these beautiful beasts are once again faced with the threat of extinction as their volcanic island paradise is set to explode.

The movie wastes no time getting us back into the action. In what feels almost a little too quick we are back on Isla Nublar with our heroes in an attempt to save our dino-friends from certain doom.

The dinosaurs are delivered well in industry leading CGI scenes we have come to expect from the franchise. Beautifully crafted shots staring the prehistoric creatures will have you feeling in awe, afraid, and even heartbroken. It’s a shame then that the human characters are left a bit weak by comparison.

Chris Pratt and Bryce Howard return to their starring roles, and are joined by what seems like a supporting cast of cartoon villains and cliche sidekicks. This may seem a harsh critique but it really does feel a little lazy in this regard.

The movie is at its best when it introduces new ideas. Philosophical questions such as should we fight to protect an endangered species, if we ourselves created them? And for the first time we begin to see the flow on effects from the availability of advanced genetic cloning techniques.

These elements add a much needed layer of depth to a simple monster movie. I would have loved to have seen them explored a bit further, we barely brush the surface of these issues and instead we get a lot of hiding from the dinosaur sequences which are starting to feel very familiar.

Overall the movie is enjoyable, it’s more Jurassic World, and a franchise that has proven its always going to perform well at the box office. However, given the potential interesting story points the movie starts to raise, it may leave some feeling like its a missed opportunity to deliver more than what was ‘expected’.

The post Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (Universal Pictures) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.